Car share parking pilot at Northgate

King County Metro is working on new ways to help more people get to transit service. To help meet growing demand at the Northgate area park & rides, Metro is designating four parking spaces for free floating car share vehicles (car2go and ReachNow). This pilot program will increase the number of ways customers can connect to transit, including customers who don’t own a car and use car share as an alternative.

About the project

Many park & rides, including at Northgate, are overcrowded, leading to customer frustration and increasing pressure to add more parking spaces. Metro’s long-range vision, METRO CONNECTS, calls for better management of parking before adding spaces. The plan also encourages Metro to test innovative solutions that harness new technology and private service providers. The car share spaces are intended to be used by more people throughout the day in comparison to general use spaces, enabling more customers to get to transit.

Frequently asked questions

Car sharing is a practice where people become members in an organization (like Zipcar, car2go and ReachNow) that owns a variety of cars, which members can then use under the terms of their membership. Free-floating car sharing (like car2go and ReachNow) allows members to unlock, drive, and park within a given service area, without needing to pick-up and return the vehicle to a specific parking space.

Northgate’s frequent all-day transit service attracts riders throughout the day and evening. Parking spaces fill early and usually remain full all day, yet customers continue to need to get there throughout the day. While many customers arrive on foot, by bike, and by transferring from other buses, other customers prefer to drive and park. Metro decided to test the use of designated car share spaces at Northgate so that some spaces could more easily serve several different customers over the course of the day. Northgate also has the only Metro-owned park & ride lots within the current service area of the two current free floating car share operators in Seattle, car2Go and ReachNow.

The designated parking spaces are first come, first serve. If the designated parking spaces are occupied, you may park in any general purpose parking space in one of the Northgate Transit Center park & rides. Alternatively, you may park in eligible on-street parking, per the parking rules of car2go and ReachNow.

The number of spaces remains the same, but this program’s intent is to increase the number of people who can use the designated parking spaces throughout the day in comparison to general use spaces. Additionally, Metro is dedicating spaces to car share vehicles to increase the number of ways customers can get to transit, including customers who don’t own a car and use car share as an alternative.

Green Lake Park & Ride is currently the only other park and ride within the coverage area for free floating car share operators in Seattle. Green Lake Park & Ride is owned by WSDOT and additional approvals would be required.